Glacier gymnasts stick landing at Kootenay Zone Championships
More than 300 athletes from throughout the zone travelled to the Heritage City this past weekend to compete in the 2024 Kootenay Zone Championships at the Glacier Gymnastics Club.
And the local Glacier club did not disappoint the home crowd, capturing 99 medals, 16 of which were podium All Around Championship medals against teams from Trail, Castlegar, Nelson, Fernie, Cranbrook, Invermere and Penticton which participated and vying for individual all-around and event titles.
Glacier Gymnastics’ recent BC Provincial Championships participants continued their winning streak in the Canadian Competitive (CCP) Level 6 & 7 categories.
The CCP Level 7 gymnasts, just off of a stellar performance at the BC Championships, where they won the 1st place team trophy, swept the podium in the all around, with Rebecka van Hellemond taking the Gold, Molly Anderson the Silver and Jersey Skolka the Bronze — Anika Denkovski claimed the silver on bars and Emerson Mandseth, won the bronze on vault.
In the CCP Level 6, 13 and under category, Lillianna Mucha won the bronze all around, gold on floor and silver on beam. In the 14 and over age group, Elsa Troutet, won the all around bronze medal, capturing gold on floor and bronze on vault and beam.
“The success of the team this season has been surprising and very motivating,” said a beaming Glacier head coach, Sandra Long, adding that the momentum of the Canadian Competitive Program (CCP) Glacier Team is still building.
“They have an ongoing positive outlook and energy and continue to be persistent in their goals to perfect skills and polish routines.”
Paisley Martin had an inspiring performance on the bars with a perfect landing Saturday at the Kootenay Zone Championships in Nelson. — Bruce Fuhr, The Nelson Daily
In the Xcel Diamond category, Anouk Prud’homme captured gold in the all around, as well as on vault, bars, beam and floor.
In the Xcel Gold, under 12 category, Glacier dominated the podium, Starting on top, Lia Keely with the all around Gold, Juri Hirano with the all around silver and rounding out the podium, Paisley Jarvis with the all around bronze medal. In the 13 and over category, Adelaide Maley won the bronze all around, silver on beam and floor and bronze on vault.
The Xcel Silver category saw some other podium finishes. The highlights are: in the 9 -10 age category, Paisley Martin won all around gold, Micah Anderson, all around bronze, Gemma Pauly, gold on beam, Mirah Benrabha, bronze on beam and Madeleine Grypma, bronze on floor.
In the 10 age category, Tui Melville captured all around bronze. In the 10-11 age category, Lilyanna Hynes won silver on beam and Lily Tschan had the bronze on vault.
In the 11 age category, Liv Campbell had the all around bronze and Thora Suomi won bronze on beam.In the 12 age category, Azuli Encisco Irwin took silver all around followed by teammate Leau Lassard with the silver all around, Mazzi Leblanc won silver on bars.
In the 12-13 age group, Olive Kutcher was on top of the podium with an all around gold medal. In the 13-14 age category, Oveya Jordan won silver on floor.
The Glacier coaching team is delighted with the success of the Xcel team.
“Their dedicated training has paid off for them,” says Long.
“If our new competitors continue their progress we will see a bigger and more successful team attending the BC Championships next season.”
The team is finishing the season strong but the gymnasts are looking forward to finishing up the competition season and are eager to start preparing new skills for the next season.
Jane Kim and the rest of the Glacier athletes are already preparing for next season after a shining performance at the Kootenay Zone Championships this past weekend in Nelson. — Bruce Fuhr, The Nelson Daily
